Delightfully Tacky

Last week I bought a ticket to go home to Alaska for my little brother's high school graduation and I simply can't wait to look out the window of that plane down on my home town, with it's dirty brown snow still lingering after a record setting winter of snowfall. I was scrolling through my old photos and came across some from a boating trip in Prince William Sound from 2010 and they made me so nostalgic that I had to share them. Growing up in such a beautiful place as Alaska, I think sometimes the majesty was lost on me, as it was just always there, every day. While Washington state is certainly beautiful, and I'm so thankful to still live somewhere so naturally beautiful, there's just nothing comparable to the beauty of the Alaskan landscape.

Lately I've found myself pining for Alaska quite often, I'm not sure why. Even the city of Anchorage, I find myself missing. I haven't considered moving back to Alaska in some time, but recently that though has found itself in my mind more and more frequently. I don't know if it's at all a feasible thought, or if I'm just dreaming of it because Alaska will always run through my veins, or if I just miss my family. Most of Dan's family lives in Washington, so it would certainly be sad for him to have to be so far from them. There's a part of me which secretly wishes we could live in the mother-in-law apartment above my parents' garage, though I believe it's still being rented by someone. It would certainly be a great way to pay off student loans and save up money though! (assuming my parents would let us stay there rent-free... or for cheap at least).

I think I will become more adamant as I age that everyone should visit Alaska at least once. Visit Denali, take a trip in a small plane, go on a cruise around Prince William Sound. Do one of those fancy cruises that comes up the panhandle! I've never been on one, but I've heard from a lot of people that it's absolutely gorgeous. On my Winne trip I rode on the ferry down the coast, which isn't really anywhere near as nice as a cruise, but it was still beautiful. The Southeast is a very nostalgic place for me, as my grandparents live there. I remember running along the rocky beaches in front of their house trying to find shale rocks that resembled arrowheads. I stashed them in a secret hole in the wall, thinking I would remember where they were. By now I really have no clue where that little hole is, but maybe someday another kid will find them...

Oh! And on an unrelated note, there's a sweet giveaway of Minnetonka Moccasins going on right now! If you've been around this blog for any amount of time, you probably know how much I swear by my Minnetonka moccs. Anyway, Minnetonka & Wren teamed up to make some custom moccasins and you can enter to win them! Pretty sweet. They're custom and there'll only be 10 made, so it's a cool opportunity to get some super special moccs from one of my favorite brands. To enter, head over to their facebook and give them a "like" and then leave a comment on their post. The giveaway is open until May 15th, so you still have two weeks to enter!